Zuzanna Zielińska, co-founder of Connecting Grounds, talks about turning coffee grounds into nutritious, healthy, and delicious products.
Connecting Grounds is a social innovation start-up, implementing a circular economy design, to repurpose the left-over nutrients in a cup of coffee. Check out our 100-second video with Zuzanna:
Resilient and regenerative food systems have to utilize all of the nutrients that are already introduced to the market to feed the growing population without the expansion of arable land.
We were interested in Connecting Ground so we decided to find out a little more about their story.
How did Connecting Grounds get its name?
” We felt a need to create a social and ecological connection between the grass-root movement and the business world in our local community, coffee grounds were our bridging element. This is how Connecting Grounds was sprouted. “
What’s your story?
” During the Covid-19 pandemic, Zuzanna Zielinska volunteered in a local community garden and wanted to improve the soil quality. She started to make nutrient-rich compost using materials she had available at work as a barista: coffee waste and coffee silver skin. Realizing the size of this systemic design problem she reached out for help to other students and climate activists. Getting together marked the transition from volunteering to a social entrepreneurial journey. “
Where did the idea come from?
” Our nutritional background and passion for ethical foods were our moral compass in the creative process. We based our solutions on findings across scientific journals and other initiatives around Denmark and the globe on how to deal with this misused rich biomaterial. We strongly believe in collaboration and knowledge sharing, rather than competition. We don’t aim to out-compete others in sustainable solutions. “
